Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-focused company of exploiting its virtual assistant Siri eavesdrop on people using the iPhone and other trendy devices.
The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in a federal court in Oakland, California, would resolve a five-year-old lawsuit centering on allegations that Apple had been secretly activating Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with with the virtual assistant.
The alleged recordings occurred even when people weren’t trying to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to more likely consumers. interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit alleged.
The accusations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple’s long-standing commitment to… protect privacy of its customers – a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often interpreted as a fight to preserve “a basic human right.”
Apple does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Attorneys in the case have suggested a hearing be scheduled for Feb. 14 in Oakland to review the terms.
If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices between September 17, 2014 and the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased depending on the volume of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.
Eligible consumers can only claim compensation on a maximum of five devices.
The settlement represents a slice of the $705 billion in profits Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It’s also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that lawyers representing consumers estimated Apple would have to pay if the company were caught violating wiretapping practices. and other privacy laws if the case had gone to trial.
According to court documents, the attorneys who filed the lawsuit can seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other costs.